Day To Day

In The Red

The night before the fateful Las Vegas massacre, Bronwen and I were saying farewell to our home of 8+ years. We decided to take in a high energy rock and roll show and take one last ride on the High Roller, Vegas’ billion foot tall observational ferris wheel.

What I took away from that night was so important to me already, that was before Sunday’s events.

Bronwen and I went to see Andrew W.K., a high-energy, non-stop powerhouse of amazingness. This was our “one last hoorah” before we hit the dusty trail, and boy was it full of “hoorah”. The night ended up being full of laughter and sweat and kisses and dancing, and it was everything I’ve ever wanted in a night out with my beautiful wife.

Andrew W.K.

Dane, Bronwen and Matthew

Matthew, Dane and Bronwen

Bronwen, Dane and Matthew

Dane, Bronwen and Matthew

Bronwen and Dane

Bronwen and Dane

Bronwen and Dane

Matthew and Bronwen

Andrew W.K.

As I was sitting towards the back of the venue after an aggressive bout in the mosh pit, I saw something that grabbed me right as I heard something that moved me. I saw the entire stage turn stark red as the faces of the performers disappeared and Andrew began to chant: “DON’T STOP LIVING IN THE RED!”

For some reason, I took this as a personal challenge and it immediately became my new personal mantra, and here’s why.

Andrew was referencing the red of a tachometer, the point at the very end of revving your engine where the engineers have said, “whoa Nelly, that’s enough, ease of the gas!” before you cause potentially irreversible damage to your engine. To me, however, the red is exactly where I want to live my entire life. I want to live on the very edge of danger. The cusp of failure. I want to push my mind, body, and spirit so hard that I am forced to grow or face the weakness holding me back.

I don’t know where this will go, but I’m starting it right now, this is a movement called IN THE RED.

PS – I have to give a HUGE shout out and congratulations to Matthew, who just landed his dream job as the lead wig designer for Cher. We are so proud of him, and so happy that his lifetime of hard work has finally paid off.